Chance Au Bouton Pouissor
by FlowerofAdversity
Summary: As a request due my friend BrightStar, we collaborated a fanfic combining her two favorite things together; game shows and Code Lyoko.


Chance au Bouton Poussior

Synopsis: In the French version of 'Press Your Luck', three contestants do their best to avoid Blammos that bankrupt a player's total. The game is going along well until the presence of a black hat is detected by one of the technicians. And this black hat isn't working on his own freewill; he is under the hypnosis of XANA.

Chapter 1—Game Show Glory Is Ours !

Kadic Academy was crackling with energy. The news that a select group of students was going to be attending a live airing of France's latest game show craze _Chance au Bouton Poussior_. After the recent Academic Decathalon, Principal Delmas had made his selection and was waiting for the opportune time to announce the lucky students who would be taking a trip to Paris for special behind the scenes access on the set that only technicians, riggers and other select few had the privilidge of seeing week in and week out. Meanwhile, Jim and Suzanne were trying out their announcing skills and used fake plastic plungers for answer buttons to prepare, and _everyone_ had the chance to participate, whether they were chosen to be a star for a night on _Chance_ or not.

It was a Friday and students were preparing for summer break. Most of the paperwork had been filed so pupils were partaking in extracurricular activies to fill time. At homeroom, Principal Delmas came over the PA and announced the students who were taking an all expenses paid trip to the set of _Chance_, and as it happened, the studio wasn't that far away. Being so close to Paris certainly had its benefits. It had been some time since the students had taken any extended trip away from Kadic, except if had been to the woods to experience Biology with Mrs. Moralez.

To make the experience more realistic, the faculty had set up a faux game show environment in the multi purpose room. There were many people involved to make the experience as authentic as possible, and Jim had even donned a rather dapper tuxedo for the part of host. There were 3 podiums that were placed on a rather large 'stage'. Odd, Patric and Emily were chosen to answer trivia questions that Jim read off cue cards.

"What's another word for slammer, hoosegow, or the pokey ?", Jim asked, as Nicholas tabulated points won by the 'contestants'.

"School !", Odd answered after ringing his buzzer. The students burst out laughing at his answer, even though he hadn't meant it, but was merely trying to be funny.

"Sorry, but that's not the correct answer. But I'll give you a point for humor. The actual answer is 'jail'.", Jim said. They soon moved into a 'lightning round' and Emily was in the lead. Patric trailed closely after her, and the students were keen to see who would win 'all the marbles' in the final Jeopardy round.

All 3 contestants did magnificently well, but Emily was the one who had gotten every single answer right. Her sister, Amy was bursting with pride at her sister's victory, but Emily was surprised that _everyone_ was coming up to congratulate her. They hoped that she'd get a chance to be an actual contestant at _Chance_, but she said, such a thing wasn't that big of a deal. If she was there with her friends and got to enjoy the experience as well as meet some famous people while she was savoring her time in and around the studio that was what was actually important.

One by one, Principal Delmas called out the names of the contestants;

Jeramie Belpois, Odd Dellarobia, Yumi Ishikawa, Ulrich Stern, William Dunbar,

Aelita Shaeffer, Nicolas Poliokoff, Herb Pishon, Elisabeth Delmas and others.

There was a limit to how many students would be able to travel in the bus to France, but Principal Delmas had designated seats to honor roll students to tag along to the _Chance_ studio. Admittedly, he was just as eager and avid as his students in getting the once in a lifetime chance to participate in an exciting, memorable game show experience. For the time being, the students would have to receive permission slips and pack their bags to set out on an adventure none of them would likely forget for years to come. Yet, unbeknownst to them was a technician, who was minding his own business and following protocol. XANA had been keeping a close watch on him from a scrything bowl in Lyoko.

"This may be my moment to catch the Lyoko Warriors off guard. They'll never suspect a meek technician as a deviant blackhat. Before she's found out, it'll be too late...my purpose will have been carried out.", XANA thought to himself as he sent a subliminal message via the Web to the techie's headset. In a matter of time, _Chance's_ hardest working technician was under the influence of the world's most incidious, deviant, despicable virus.

Chapter 2—Meeting The Host

Jacques Matthiew Moreau was a successful host of _Chance_. His winning personality made him fantastic to be around. He was generous and happily married. In fact, his children Charlotte and Francis often came to the set just before work to be shuttled off to school by Jacques' stunning wife Georgette, who happened to be a fashion model. Unlike snooty, uppety 'noveau coture' types, she was humble, and often shy in her handsome husband's presence, but their chemistry was palpable whenever they were together.

Jacques was excited to meet the kids from Kadic. He loved working with kids. He had always joked that if he hadn't been so photogenic and affable, he would've tried harder to become a pediatrician. From the moment he met the Kadic students, he had fallen head over heels for them. He felt an instantanious connection with them and became a surrogate father, wanting to teach them everything he knew about 'the biz', its ins, outs and otherwise zany competiveness. The tech who had been hypnotized by XANA, Janette, watched the Lyoko Warriors from the scaffolding above them.

"It won't be long now, XANA my master. Just give me the command and I obey.", she said, bowing long and low.

"You are a faithful servant, Janette. It will be a pity once this is over that you will forget I ever hijacked your mind.", XANA said, with a smirk from his craggy throne in his dark, dank hideout deep in Lyoko's Necropolis.

Chapter 3—Explaining The Rules Of Play

After savoring their high class stay at one of Paris' finest hotels, the friends were well rested and eager to do a bit of shopping as well as experiencing the beautiful dining and culture that could only be enjoyed in Paris before their first live taping of _Chance_. Honestly, the kids were practically bursting with glee knowing that they were going to be on local TV for the first time ever. They were a little apprehensive, but realizing that they had more than a handful of peers cheering them on from the studio, that fear quickly subsided.

Mr. Moreau explained the rules of _Chance au Bouton Pouissior _to the three main contestants that would be playing the game. Each game was begun with a trivia question of some sort, and whoever answered the question correctly won the most 'spins'. Once retrieving the spins, they could either spin or pass, depending on what choice they wanted to make in their strategy of avoiding the dreaded _Blammo_, which was the one spot on the board that could bankrupt a player of his earnings. The rules were rather straightforward and easy to undertstand, not too complicated or involved. It was somewhat like _Wheel Of Fortune_, but with a little _Trivial Pursuit _thrown in for a challenge. He gave the kids pointers on assauging their fears of being on stage or in front of an audience.

Of course, Moreau had been working in the industry long enough to have conquered his fear of crowds long ago. Somehow he knew his jocular attitude and playful nature would ease them into getting ready for filming though.

Chapter 4—Let The Game Begin

Jeramie, Aelita and Sissi were a triple team, Odd, Ulrich and William were another, and the last team involved in the game was Nicholas, Herb and Patric.

It would be interesting to see how the triple teams would play as a whole. They would have to plot their responses carefully and answer with one accord if they wanted to win the game, but they would have to avoid the _Blammos _simultaniously. This gave the game its real challenge, but the players were up for teasing their brains a bit. Meanwhile, the technician, Janette, waited for word from her lord and master on what course of action to follow next. XANA certainly didn't feel any further remorse for erasing her memories of this evening once his plot began to take root. No sooner had she begun hacking into the system and causing one team to 'cheat' that Jacques had to shut off the cameras and dismiss the audience. He went backstage to see what was going on.

"What's the meaning of this ? Do you think this is some sort of joke ?", he asked, seriously. This had been the first time any of the crew had seen Jacques ticked off, and he had plenty to be steamed about. When he saw Jeanette knocked out cold on the floor, however, looking pale, he did what any sensible man would've done; he called the paramedics. As for the Warriors, they knew something far more incidious was behind this strange turn of events.

The technology of the set was suddenly becoming animate.

"We have to contain everything here...Jacques, get the audience out of here, quickly !", James said, noticing that Jeanette had been taken away to the hospital already by a fast-acting medical crew. The audience had been cleared out earlier due to the 'incident' of numerical failure. They were already out of the studio before a monster crafted out of wires, monitors, lights, scaffolding and finally the entire _Chance_ studios appeared. The Warriors had to jump out of the way simply to avoid being hit by rogue lighting fixtures.

"Guys, let's move, _now_ !", Ulrich shouted above the clamor as he and the others fled the scene while Jim and Suzanne enclosed the massive Techbeast in a forcefield. The field would only encase the monstrosity for so long. With one large blast of pure force, the being, most indubitably created by XANA, blasted them all out of the studio. The Warriors landed on the ground, scuffed up, but no worse for the wear thanks to the sheilding Suzanne had provided at the last moment. Yet it seemed that the battle between the Warriors and XANA had only just started because there wasn't only one Techbeast but approximately 100 that had been created thanks to the hack job the possessed techie had done in milliseconds under sugguestion of XANA. Part of it was his immense power and influence over raw data, or it would've never duplicated its results so quickly.

Chapter 5—Battling Techbeasts

Jacques was certain he saw and felt an impressive surge of energy followed by brilliant light. Even though he had heard the command to stay out of harm's way, he couldn't help but watch these unusually dressed heroes and heroines that had steered the strange technical abominations far from the City of Lights.

He was positively entranced, unable to avert his gaze from their graceful and precise fighting technique.

There were plenty of explosions, but fortunately, these were controlled and citizens were kept far from the harm of possible falling debris and errant random items that the Techbeasts smacked and smashed out of their path. XANA at last had his prey cornered, and he was practically licking his lips in anticipation.

Yet he hadn't planned how he would take the Warriors down once and for all.

Though he had them treed, the Warriors themselves formed their _own _mech out of object art that happened to be in the immediate area.

"Wait ! What are you _doing _?", XANA thought as he watched the colorful behemoth rise. It was reminiscent of animes he had caught glimpses of through his scrything bowl. This was something direct out of _Power Rangers Samurai_, only bigger, more fluid, and far more powerful. The Techbeasts were getting beaten back pretty severely and the hundred Techbeast army he had formed was quickly reduced to 10, and then quickly to only one. He alone was left and whatever could be salvaged of his ego was quickly vaporizing. He growled and clutched his fist, shaking it furiously.

"You might have defeated me this time, Warriors, but next time, you'll feel the full force of my wrath. I guarentee you that !", XANA vowed. Before the Warrior's mech could grasp him, he had dissolved into numerical form, fleeing to the virtual world.

"Rats, and we almost had him !", Odd pouted.

"Yeah, I know. So close !", Ulrich agreed with a bit of a grumble. As they looked around them, they noticed that even though Suzanne had deployed shields and no civillians were hurt, there was quite a bit of property damage.

"We need to initiate a return to the past. Besides, these people have witnessed too much. If they recall any of these events, our cover is going to be blown.", Jeremie stated, cooly. Aelita nodded, agreeing. With a push of a button, a lumiescent glow enveloped them, and all the damage was repaired instantaniously. The people, whatever they had been doing before, went back to their normal lives as if nothing unusual had occurred, completely forgetting what had passed before.

Chapter 6—Back to Press Their Luck

Jacques couldn't explain it, but he had felt odd setting up for the taping of _Chance_. It felt like deja vu. Quickly, he shook off the feeling, but he kept having flashbacks of the studio being dreadfully destroyed and his lightning fixtures and other technical apparatises turning into horrible beasts. Shaking his head he felt the visions were only that; visions. He told himself, "Jaques, you're simply having a daymare. Shrug it off. You saw nothing unusual. Just tape the programme. Give the audience some entertainment."

"And..._action_ !", the director called. The lights came on and the audience clapped.

"Today these six contestants are after lots o' Euros, but stay clear of the Blammo as they play one of France's most exhillerating games ever ! From the _Chance_ studios in beautiful Paris, France, it's _Chance au Bouton Poussior !_And now, introducing your host, Jacques Matthieu Moreau !", exclaimed the show's exhuberant announcer.

Typically, the main contestants to the show would've been wobbily kneed and sweaty palmed, but seeing their friends grinning in the audience quickly reassured them that this night would be one of the best, most memorable nights they had ever experienced. The game moved by at lightning pace, and the teams were swift to answer trivia questions. All that button pushing with realistically made plungers had been very useful. Suzanne got a pat on the back from her loving husband for her innovative use of plastics.

The time finally came for a commercial break and the students were feeling quite a bit peckish, not to mention thirsty. Jacques led them to a rather ritzy snack bar and showed off the station's vending machines. The vending machines carried no soda or energy drinks, which Suzanne was rather happy to see, since she had been teaching on the subject of nutrition all week. But she did stress that it was fine every so often to indulge with a cookie or a sweet treat every now and then, just so long as the minor indulgence wasn't frequent.

As they savored the massive buffet of scumptous foods, Jacques took Jeramie aside and began chatting with him.

"Tell me something, Jeramie. I hope you don't think I'm losing my mind.

To be honest, I think I might be a little cuckoo.", he began. Jeramie reassured the gentle host that he had nothing to fret over.

"Go ahead. Tell me what's on your mind. I'm all ears.", Jeramie then said, calmly.

"I have visions that come and go. You and your friends, strangely, are in them. I see my studios being ripped apart and terrifying creatures coming up from the cables and wires forming before my eyes. But before anything else happens, I saw my whole world becoming brilliantly snow white. I don't really remember anything else, though I do think I saw you and your fellow peers fighting off the beasts I saw earlier. It's a chore to recall anything else, because it's a blur. Am I nuts ?", Jacques questioned, clearly worried that his lucid daydreams were nothing more than flights of fancy. Jeramie bit his bottom lip momentarily. He couldn't simply lie to Jacques about what he had seen.

"Can I trust you, Mr. Moreau ?", Jeremie queried, tenetively.

"Yes, of course you can. You and the others, you're like my surrogate kids.", Jacques admitted. Jeramie began telling Mr. Moreau about _everything_, even XANA. Now Janette's unprofessional attitude and behavior made sense. It wasn't her fault and fortunately, she hadn't been fired for what she had done once she had been found out, since she remembered absolutely nothing of what had occurred to her.

"That's completely fascinating. Why do you suppose I remembered some bits and pieces about your epic battle ?", he retorted. Jeramie scratched his head and adjusted his glasses.

"I don't know, Jacques, but you must not, repeat _must not_ breathe a word of this to anyone else.", Jeramie reproved, gently. Jacques nodded his head.

Looking at his watch, he realized it was time to get back to taping the remainder of the show. So far, Jeramie's team had been racking up points, and Sissi's team was in second. In this particular competition, the money would be given to a charity of the team's choice, so in essense, everyone would be victorious by the time the game had come to a close.

Chapter 7—Winners All

"We have finally come to the last Big Board round ! Let's end strongly for each of your charities, shall we ?", Jacques said with a million-watt smile. "On Team #1, we'll start with Aelita and Sissi will play last !" , he concluded.

Aelita was becoming a whiz at trivia, even with such topics as celebrity gossip, fashions, current events and even newly added words to Webster's dictionary.

She was a tough opponent but Sissi had more knowledge in certain areas than she did. But, her luck took an unfortunate turn when she hit a Blammo and her winnings shifted to zero.

"Agggh, no !", she whined, hitting the table with a closed fist. She was a good sport, but seeing that charity money fade into the sunset broke her heart.

She still had 3 spins left on the board, so she could reclaim her losses. It wouldn't be nearly so much as Aelita had earned, since Aelita was still first according to her combined winnings. Yet in the end, it was all in fun and Sissi knew that. Somehow, somewhere, homeless people were going to be given a chance at making their lives better due to her winnings. Knowing that made her feel positively fantastic.

By the time the game had come to a close, the team had amassed 10 million dollars in total. Odd was still trying to calculate how many zeroes would be followed by ten and had since given up even bothering. Even though his math skills weren't top notch, he was aware that the team had amassed quite a sum of money. Jim was so proud of his students that he had chosen to reward them with a trip to the Louvre. This museum was of special significance to him because he had taken Suzanne there once or twice when courting her, comparing her fairness to that of the enigmatic Mona Lisa. As far as he was concerned, she was more splendid than Mona and the Venus de Milo combined.

The students savored a fancy dinner after soaking up culture at the Louvre.

Many students were so inspired that they began creating sketches. Millie, a younger Kadic student, sugguested that the paintings could also be auctioned for charity, thereby increasing the winnings they had gained from their venture at _Chance_. The local art teacher, Cosette Brunhilda felt this was brilliant. The art that would come from the students' musings would certainly attract the eyes of some affluent philanthropists, which would be a major boon for the numerous charity orginizations that the Kadic, its faculty and students had been supporting.

Epilogue

Long after the auction had commensed, Cosette realized that her students' artwork was amassing more money than she ever thought possible. The philanthropists were pouring out their hearts (and wallets) for the cause of better good and it warmed her heart to see it. Now, it certainly wouldn't solve the problem of homelessness in France's streets but at least it would help many people have the ability to get a new start. Also, there would be many people, strangers that the Kadic kids would probably never have the chance of meeting, who would be inspired by their fantastic works of art.

Even when school had ended, the students were still talking about their experience at the _Chance _studios. Many of them even had a DVD copy of the taping so they could show it to their children and grandchildren some day. Jacques was even curteous enough to autograph the copies and give each of the students their own glossy photograph. Presently, many of the students, though they are on summer vacation, have their memorabilia close to their hearts, whether it is on their closets, bookshelves or walls for everyone to see who happens to pass by, or sequestered away in their nightstands as a reminder of a night they will never forget.

The End


End file.
